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Chinua Achebe
' Chinua Achebe' (born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African literature. Raised by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship for undergraduate studies. He became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures, and began writing stories as a university student. After graduation, he worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) and soon moved to the metropolis of Lagos. He gained worldwide attention for Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s; his later novels include No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964), A Man of the People(1966), and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). Achebe wrote his novels in English and defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. In 1975, his lecture An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" featured a famous criticism of Joseph Conrad as "a thoroughgoing racist"; it was later published in''The Massachusetts Review'' amid some controversy. Tossup Questions # He's not E.M. Forster, but this author categorized critics as "hostile," "amazed," or "conscious" in his essay "Where Angels Fear to Tread." This man created a character who is forbidden from marrying Clara because she is an osu. In another work by this man, an explosion at a funeral kills Ezeudu's son, after the protagonist sacrifices his adopted child, Ikemefuna. That novel's sequel was called No Longer at Ease. For 10 points, name this Nigerian author who used a quote from Yeats's "The Second Coming" to title his novel about the life of Okonkwo, Things Fall Apart. # This author wrote a short story in which Jonathan is robbed of twenty pounds, but disregards it because "Nothing Puzzles God." In addition to Civil Peace, this author wrote a work in which the protagonist befriends Joseph and convinces Clara Okeke to undergo an abortion. In the prequel to that work, a family is exiled for seven years after a gun explosion kills (*) Ezeudo's son. The most famous novel of this author of No Longer at Ease features a character who hangs himself after killing Ikemefuna to avoid trial by Christian missionaries. For ten points, name this Nigerian author who wrote about Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart. # This man divided certain critics into "amazed", "peevishly hostile", and "universalist" groups in his essay "Where Angels Fear to Tread", which was later collected in his book Morning Yet on Creation Day. A line from Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" titles a novel by this man whose protagonist befriends William Green's secretary Marie Tomlinson and is arrested for taking a bribe in order to pay for an (*) abortion for his girlfriend Clara, an osu. The protagonist's son takes the name Isaac after a religious conversion in a novel by this man about a son of Unoka who commits suicide after observing the colonization of Umuofia. For 10 points, name this author who wrote about the Okonkwo family in No Longer At Ease and Things Fall Apart. # One protagonist created by this author surprises the chairman of the Public Service Commission by suggesting that The Heart of the Matter was ruined by its happy ending, and refuses to negotiate the customs duty on his radiogram. That character created by him worries that his secretary, Marie, is spying on him for his boss, Mr. Green. In one of his novels, a woman refuses to marry the protagonist because she is an osu and then aborts the baby she had with him. Clara is the fiancée of one of his characters, who is sponsored by his town's Progressive Union and is arrested for taking bribes. That character created by him is the grandson of a man whose funeral gun salute accidentally kills Ezeudu's son, and who is commanded to kill Ikemefuna. For 10 points, name this creator of the Okonkwo family, the Nigerian author of No Longer at Ease and Things Fall Apart. # This author wrote of Reginald, who is stopped by a woman at a checkpoint, in the title story of his collection Girls at War. He wrote a novel narrated by Chris, who serves as Minister of Information under a dictator of Kangan named Sam. His characters include the priest Ezeulu and the government official Obi, who is arrested for accepting bribes, in Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease, respectively. Nwoye converts to Christianity after the slaying of Ikemefuna in a novel by this author of Anthills of the Savannah, which tells the story of the village of Umuofia and the warrior Okonkwo. For 10 points, name this Nigerian author of Things Fall Apart.